


The Final Frontier

by orphan_account



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Dwarven Ones | Soulmates, M/M, Unrelated Fíli and Kíli
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 06:46:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6184780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He could see the Golden Gate Bridge from his window.</p><p>It served as a constant reminder to Kili that he wasn’t home anymore. He was in San Francisco. He had finally made it to Starfleet Academy Headquarters. Where the best and the brightest in the Federation studied.</p><p>And he, Kili Disson, had made it. Four years and three degrees from Starfleet Academy London, and he had made it.</p><p>The official Starfleet info packet didn’t tell him, though, that his roommate was going to be a gorgeous Dwarven pilot, which Kili thought was a pretty serious oversight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Final Frontier

**Author's Note:**

> So this just kinda came out. Hope you enjoy it!

He could see the Golden Gate Bridge from his window.

It served as a constant reminder to Kili that he wasn’t home anymore. He was in San Francisco. He had _finally_ made it to Starfleet Academy Headquarters. Where the best and the brightest in the Federation studied.

And _he_ , Kili Disson, had _made_ it. Four years and three degrees from Starfleet Academy London, and he had _made_ it.

Of course, Starfleet had offered him a place at the prestigious academy four years ago, when he had first submitted his application. They hadn’t really been impressed that he had lied about his age, but his admission essay about theoretical transwarp beaming, building on a paper written by a B. Miner, had garnered him some major attention from the Starfleet brass. They just hadn’t been willing to take responsibility for a fourteen year old kid.

And while Kili had _really_ wanted to get to San Francisco, he hadn’t wanted to uproot his aunt, who would have had to accompany him had he accepted, like that. She already resented the sacrifices she had made for Kili after his parents died.

So he had instead gone to the smaller Starfleet campus in London, soaking in everything his professors could teach him and racking up a few degrees in the process. If he hadn’t been so young, he would have already been stationed on a starship.

Starfleet, though, wouldn’t station their members in space unless they had turned twenty. Sure, he could have been sent to one of their bases stationed throughout the galaxy. He might even have been sent on the odd mission or two in the black. But he wouldn’t be on a _starship_.

That was where he belonged. Among the stars.

Still, at eighteen, he’d have to wait a couple of years. His advisor had told him his time would be best served learning as much as he could at the Academy, rather than at a planetary out-posting somewhere. If he impressed his superiors with his research at the Academy, he’d be a shoo in for a tactical position on a starship, maybe even fast-tracked to chief tactical officer.

That was Kili’s ultimate goal. A bridge level position. He didn’t think he’d ever want to have the responsibility of captain, but he definitely wanted to be in the thick of things.

He was startled out of his dreams of the future by his door opening, and the Dwarf who was no doubt Fili Durin, his assigned roommate, striding in confidently. 

Fili Durin was older than him. That was a given, though. Most people at the Academy were older than him, especially the Dwarves. He knew from the information given him that this was Durin’s fourth and final year at the academy. He had already gained the rank of lieutenant, and was command track like Kili, though he was specializing in flight instead of tactical.

What the official Starfleet info packet _didn’t_ tell him was how _attractive_ his roommate was, which Kili thought was a pretty serious oversight.

Fili’s hair alone made Kili ache to bury his fingers in those long, blond curls, and his _eyes_. Not to mention the muscles that spoke of commitment that went way beyond the general fitness regimen all Starfleet cadets had to submit to. He had the shorter stature and broader build of a full-blooded Dwarf, as well as a general air of _coolness_ that seemed to exude from the gorgeous lieutenant effortlessly.

Kili knew he was going to embarrass himself. He was awkward enough around people without the added element of sexual attraction. This was going to be a disaster.

Why couldn’t he be on a starship already, able to do his duties before shutting himself up in his private room and pretending it didn’t matter that other people thought he was weird?

Still, he wasn’t so socially inept that he didn’t know staring was off-putting in most social situations so he quickly stopped doing that. Though it was harder than he realized, toeing the line between staring and looking at the person who was speaking to you.

Blue eyes met Kili’s, and his breath caught in his throat as his heart threatened to beat out of his chest. He swallowed thickly as he tried to compose himself.

“Hey!” the blond greeted him, giving him a welcoming smile which showed off his dimples. How was it that his beautifully groomed golden beard only _accentuated_ those gorgeous indentations in his cheeks? “You must be Kili. I’m Fili,” he continued, grin widening. “I think whoever decided to assign us to the same room has a weird sense of humor.”

A sadistic sense of humor, Kili thought. Let’s place the awkward nerd with the handsome pilot and see how long it takes for him to die of embarrassment. 

Still he managed to force a chuckle that sounded somewhat natural. “Yeah, at least we won’t forget each other’s names,” he joked weakly. That had happened with his roommate last year. He had forgotten Kili’s name after the first week and spent the entire year just calling him “Kid.”

Fili laughed and threw his duffle on the free bed. “There’s that at least. But I’ve had a long trip and I’m starving. Want to grab lunch in the mess with me?”

Kili blinked at that before hastily nodding and standing up. The blond grinned as they made their way out of the room.

“So where are you from?” Fili asked as they exited the building and walked towards the mess hall.

“London,” he answered, a bit shyly. “You?”

“Ered Luin,” Fili said. “Not Belegost, though,” he tacked on with a laugh. “You have no idea how many people not from the planet ask me if I’m from Belegost, even other Dwarves! I think that’s the only city on the planet that they know. To be fair, there’s not much else, but there is my little outpost on the opposite side of the planet.”

“Nogrod,” Kili surmised with a nod.

“Yeah—Hey!” the blond said, giving him a surprised grin. “You know your interstellar geography pretty well!”

He shrugged. “Navigation is a part of tactical.”

He wasn’t going to tell Fili how he knew about Nogrod, the tiny city, if it could be called that, situated on the opposite side of Ered Luin as its capital, Belegost. He was sure Fili could guess that he was part Dwarven himself, but his too-thin frame, abnormally long legs, and inability to grow more than a light scruff gave him away as being the mutt he was. Most of the proper Dwarves that he had met growing up didn’t like to acknowledge his heritage and had looked down on him as a result. He had learned that if he carefully kept quiet about his mixed heritage, he was more likely to be accepted.

“True,” Fili conceded before giving him a considering look. “No offense, but how old are you? You look really young but you already have three degrees…”

Kili blushed. “I am eighteen. That’s why I studied in London for so long.”

“Well that explains why I outrank someone who is so clearly smarter than me,” the blond commented lightly, though Kili thought he seemed a bit disappointed. Probably because he didn’t want to be stuck rooming with someone so young. “It’s a dumb rule that ensign is the highest rank you can have before you’re twenty.”

“There are different kinds of smart,” he told him with a shrug, not wanting Fili to resent his intelligence.

“Yeah, you just happen to be the kind of smart that is super smart,” Fili quipped, slinging an easy arm over his shoulders as they entered the mess hall, much to Kili’s surprise. “Come on. Let’s get some food.”

Lunch was confusing for Kili. Fili was being so open, so kind, so _considerate_. Talking to him was easy in a way that Kili had never felt before, at least outside a classroom. The conversation flowed naturally between the two of them.

It was strange.

By the time they got back to their dorm room, Kili realized with a start what was happening.

He and Fili were becoming _friends_.

 

#

 

He didn’t get to spend a lot of time with Fili that semester. Sure, they shared the room and Kili was fairly certain he could call Fili a friend, but it had been something he hadn’t counted on having. Which was why he had signed up for so many classes before the beginning of the semester. His workload was just too strenuous to hang out with Fili very much.

Besides, Fili had his own friends, and though he was always kind enough to invite Kili along whenever they went out, Kili really didn’t want to intrude. He was grateful enough that Fili’s friends didn’t seem to mind him being around when they gathered in their room. He didn’t want to push his luck, especially when they were all Dwarves.

“We aren’t disturbing you, are we, Kili?” Gimli asked one night near the end of the semester as he, Fili, and Nori walked into the room. It wasn’t quite finals season yet, but it was drawing uncomfortably close for most of the cadets.

He looked up from the book he was reading and gave a shy shake of his head. Truth be told, he liked the comforting flow of their conversation. It made him feel less alone. “You’re fine,” he said honestly. “I’m not reading for class or anything anyway.”

“Then you can come play poker with us,” Fili decided with a grin.

“Perfect,” Nori declared with a sharp smirk, grabbing Fili’s desk chair and pulling towards the blond’s bed and dropping into it. “Fresh meat.”

Gimli chuckled as Kili’s eyes widened. “Don’t worry,” he told him conspiratorially, bouncing onto the end of the bed. “We don’t play for real money.”

Kili closed his book but bit his lip in indecision. He wanted to join but… “I don’t know how to play,” he admitted at last.

“Well that just means we get to teach you,” Fili replied, stepping over to Kili’s bed and pulling him up by the arm, surprising the brunet. Unable to get his feet under in time, he all but fell into Fili’s arms.

He blushed as Fili’s hands steadied him by his waist and gave a shaky smile as he stepped back. “Okay,” he muttered, heart pounding in his chest at Fili’s close proximity. 

The blond grinned at him and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the head of his bed. “Alright,” he said, sitting down onto the bed and tugging Kili down with him so that they were squeezed together near the headboard. “You and I will be a team until you catch on.”

Kili nodded, trying to fight down his blush as Nori dealt the cards out and Gimli divvied up a bag of candy into three piles.

“Candy?” he said questioningly as one pile was pushed in front of him and Fili.

“It makes victory that much sweeter,” Gimli told him with wink.

Nori snorted. “That is horrible. Now, come on, gentlemen, enough talk. Let’s play some poker.”

It didn’t take him very long to catch on to the game, though he made no suggestion that he try on his own, too content to be pressed close to Fili. He was quick to realize that the game was less about the cards you had and more about figuring out whether the other players were lying.

It wasn’t hard for Kili to figure out whenever Gimli was lying. The redheaded Dwarf wasn’t very good at keeping his facial expressions in check. Nori was harder to read, but Kili eventually learned to look for the gleam that came into his eyes briefly when he first glanced at his cards and saw they were good.

He grew more confident with each hand, though he kept quiet for the most part. The conversation dealt mainly with campus gossip about other students and professors, most of whom he didn’t know, so he didn’t really feel like he could contribute much. Still, he was happy just to _be_ there.

Still, when Nori put in an obscenely large amount of candy as his bet and Gimli immediately folded, he couldn’t help but stop Fili from folding as well.

“Wait,” he said, just as Fili was about to lay their cards down. “Call.”

The blond raised an eyebrow at him as Nori narrowed his eyes. “You sure?”

He nodded confidently. “Positive.”

“Alright then,” Fili agreed, pushing nearly all of their candy stash into the middle of the bed. “We call. What do you have, Nori?”

The other Dwarf scowled and lay down his hand to reveal a pair of kings. Fili grinned as he lay down his three eights. Gimli groaned, obviously having a hand that would have beaten both hands.

Fili gave him a curious look. “How’d you know?”

He flushed under the attention and shrugged. “It’s not hard to see Nori has good cards when you know what to look for.”

Gimli chuckled as Nori’s scowl intensified. “Uh oh, Nori, Kili here has you figured out!”

Kili shrank closer to Fili in the face of Nori’s displeasure. He hadn’t meant to make the Dwarf angry. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut. Some of his fear must have shown on his face because Fili glared at Nori as he wrapped an arm around his younger friend’s shoulders, which really only caused Kili to feel _more_ self-conscious as he felt like he was causing a problem between Fili and his friend.

Nori, thankfully, just rolled his eyes. “Chill, Durin,” he said in exasperation. “I’m not angry at Kili. Kinda pissed at myself though,” he muttered as an aside before giving Kili a small smile. “Sorry.”

Kili stomach unclenched at the older Dwarf’s smile and apology, and he managed to give him a shaky smile back. “Sorry for ruining your bluff,” he apologized back.

Nori waved that off. “It’s how the game is played. I should’ve realized a smart guy like you wouldn’t be fooled for long.”

“Hey!” Gimli protested with a frown. “Are you calling us unsmart?”

The other Dwarf smirked. “Considering ‘unsmart’ isn’t a word, I don’t think I really have to,” he quipped.

Fili had relaxed beside him, obviously not caring if Nori offended his own intelligence as he lounged back against the headboard, arm still thrown casually over Kili’s shoulders. “Are you two going to argue all night or are we going to finish our game?”

Every hand after that, Fili looked to Kili for advice before making any decisions, which brought about the end of the game sooner than it did later.

“Watch it, Fili,” Nori warned as Fili and Kili congratulated themselves over their pile of candy. “Next time, Kili plays on his own and he’ll be wiping the floor with you, too.”

Fili just smirked at him even as Kili’s heart leapt at the idea of a _next time_. “He doesn’t know all of my tells yet,” the blond Dwarf said smugly.

The other two left not long after that, grumbling about upcoming finals and the impending cram-sessions they necessitated.

“Tonight was fun,” Fili said after they had left, giving Kili a happy smile.

He nodded. “Thank you for including me.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” the blond said seriously, giving him a bemused look. “You’re my friend, Kili. You’re always welcome.”

Kili went to bed that night nearly giddy with happiness, though he tried to keep a check on his emotions. No need to show how desperate he was for friendship.

 

#

 

He stopped turning down Fili’s invitations to go out after that, not that it mattered all that much. With finals descending upon them like a thick, oppressive cloud, Fili and Kili both turned their attention to studying.

Kili found that studying with Fili was actually enjoyable. Usually, finals stressed him out, irrational panic setting in no matter how much he prepared. Fili was just as dedicated to studying as he was, but he made sure that they both took breaks every few hours to get food or go for a walk or sometimes just talk. To his surprise, it helped Kili keep his anxiety over exams at bay.

“So are you going home for winter break?” Fili asked during one of their study breaks. They were both lying on their backs across Kili’s bed after the blond had physically pulled him away from his notes.

He grimaced slightly but nodded. “I promised my aunt that I would.”

The blond raised an eyebrow and looked over at him. “You don’t seem too happy about that.”

“My aunt can just be a bit… distant sometimes,” he confessed with a sigh. “She’s given up a lot for me, and it wasn’t exactly easy on her raising someone like me. I mean, if it weren’t for me, she probably would have moved off planet years ago.”

“Where would she have moved?”

“Probably to Gazaz Bhanad,” he speculated. “She and my father, her brother, were from Belegost originally, but I doubt she’d move back there.” He would never say it in front of Fili, but she had never had good things to say about Ered Luin, speaking as if the Dwarves there were less cultured than other Dwarven planets. Considering Fili was from Ered Luin, Kili was quickly becoming to believe that she was very wrong in that assessment. 

“Most of the Dwarves in our community in London were from Gazaz Bhanad, and there are a couple she’s pretty good friends with,” he explained.

Fili perked up at Kili’s answer. “You never told me that your family was from Ered Luin!” he exclaimed with an eager look. 

Kili shrugged sheepishly. “I never lived there, and it was only my father. He moved to Earth and then met my mother here. My aunt was visiting here on holiday when they died in a hovercar crash.”

“I’m so sorry, Kee,” the blond said sincerely. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“It’s okay,” he replied, a little breathless at being given a nickname. “I was just a baby. But what are you doing for break?” he asked changing the subject. “Going home to Nogrod?”

“No,” Fili answered with a shake of his head. “Despite Starfleet’s new innovations in warp tech, unfortunately commercial vessels don’t have the speed capacities to get me to Ered Luin fast enough to make going home worth it. The fastest ship I could get on would take five days to get me there, which means five days _back_. I’d have maybe three days, tops, to spend with my family.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kili said, appreciating for the first time just how _vast_ the galaxy was. Sure, he had seen the planets mapped out, and knew exactly how far each system was from the others, but hearing it from the perspective of someone having to _travel_ it at speeds available to civilians was a bit eye-opening.

“Don’t be,” he told him with an easy smile. “Most of the Dwarves here have the same problem and we all have a veritable feast on Christmas Eve.”

Kili felt a pang of longing and almost wanted to cancel his trip back to London. He quickly pushed the thought away. No doubt he wouldn’t be very welcome at a Dwarven feast anyway, despite Fili’s acceptance of him.

“You celebrate Christmas?” he asked instead of dwelling on his own longing.

Fili laughed. “We celebrate for the sake of celebration,” he explained. “We may not hold to Earthen spiritual or cultural beliefs regarding the holiday, but any excuse to eat, drink, and get presents is a good one.”

“I guess that’s true,” he agreed with a weak smile, knowing his aunt and the Dwarves from back home would probably be scandalized at the notion. Kili was beginning to realize that maybe they were on the extreme end of purists, which really only made him more depressed about having to go home and spend a couple weeks with them rather than stay here and spend time with Fili.

“You’re not leaving right after finals are over, though, right?” Fili asked. “You’ll be here to celebrate exams being over the last night.”

He shook his head slowly. “My last final is a couple of days before the end of finals so my flight out is the day before that,” he replied sadly.

Fili eyed the multitude of data chips scattered across Kili’s desk. “All of your finals are packed into four days?” he said in horror. “Don’t you have like six?”

“Seven,” he told him with a shrug. “But it’s okay. I’d rather just get them over with.”

“You’re not going to take as many classes next semester, are you?” Fili asked in with a frown. “I barely saw you this past semester.”

“No, I’ll actually have more free time next semester than I’ll know what to do with,” he admitted. “My adviser has me signed up mostly for lab and research hours.”

“Good,” the blond declared with a grin. “You won’t have any excuse not to come out with us more.”

Kili blushed. “I didn’t use studying as an excuse…”

Fili snorted. “Yes, you did.”

“I, uh, I’m…” he stuttered out helplessly.

“It’s okay,” Fili said, scooting closer to Kili and nudging him lightly with his shoulder. “And if you don’t want to hang out with me or the guys, that’s okay, too.”

“I want to!” he was quick to assure. “I just… thought you were just being nice…”

“I wouldn't have asked if I didn’t want to spend time with you,” Fili told him, giving him a smirk. “I’m not that nice of a guy.”

“Yes, you are,” Kili said, rolling his eyes. “You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

Fili didn’t look too pleased at that but pushed himself off the bed and held out a hand to help Kili up. “Back to work?”

He smiled and took the offered hand, letting Fili help him up before heading back to his books.

 

#

 

Once exams actually started, there wasn’t a lot of time for him and Fili to spend much time together. Sure, they ate their meals and studied together, but they were both distracted by their tests and the conversation consisted mostly of monosyllable words, when they bothered to use words at all.

Still, Fili’s presence alone made the experience a little less stressful for Kili so he couldn’t complain.

When the morning of his flight came, though, he was more than a little bummed that Fili had an early final and wasn’t there. Sure, the blond had told him goodbye last night, but he had really wanted to see him one last time before he went home.

It was probably a good thing, though. He may have done something embarrassing like throw himself at Fili for a hug. Or _worse_.

He was ashamed to say that his initial attraction to Fili had grown into a full blown crush, and he was absolutely certain that it would not end well.

That knowledge, though, did not stop his heart from leaping when he got a message from Fili on his comm just before his shuttle landed in London.

_Sorry I didn’t get to see you off! Have a great break!_

He sent a quick reply and was still smiling when his aunt picked him up in her hovercar. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as he entered the vehicle.

“Why are you grinning like a ridiculous Elf?” she asked disdainfully. She scowled as she put the car into gear and pulled into traffic. “Bad enough that your great-great-grandmother was _human_ ,” she continued, spitting the word as if it were poison. “No need to go prancing about like an elf.”

Kili wanted to argue with her. The very idea that only Elves did something like _grinning_ was ridiculous. Men grinned all the time! And given the many good-natured Dwarves who were quick with a smile, he really didn’t think her scolding was quite fair.

He knew nothing he could say would change her mind. Besides, considering the Dwarves she associated with would probably pull a muscle if they attempted to quirk their lips upwards, he’d never be able to convince her.

He couldn’t help but wonder if all Dwarves from Gazaz Bhanad were so severe or if it were just the Dwarves of Iron Hills, the rather insulated Dwarven neighborhood in London where his aunt had settled.

Kili spent most of his holiday hidden away in his room, neither he nor his aunt caring too much to spend much time with each other. He wasn’t even really sure why she had insisted that he come home. It became clear, though, the morning before he was set to leave.

“You need to gather all the belongings you have here and take them with you,” she told him suddenly over breakfast.

“What?” he asked dumbly, unable to process the odd request.

She gave him an unimpressed look. “Now that you’re of age by human reckoning, I’ve made arrangements to move off planet. The house will be sold before the summer, so you need to make sure all of your things are gone.”

“Y-you’re leaving?” Kili knew he shouldn’t be so surprised. He himself had told Fili that his aunt wouldn’t have stayed on Earth if it hadn’t been for him. He just didn’t think she would leave while he was still on Earth.

“Kili, we both know that as soon as you turn twenty, you’ll be off this planet and won’t look back,” she told him in exasperation. “Now that you’re capable of living on your own, I don’t see any reason for me to stick around.”

He nodded dejectedly and didn’t argue any further. He just stood up and cleaned up their dishes before going upstairs to sort through the possessions he had left there. His aunt didn’t volunteer where she was moving, and he didn’t ask.

It didn’t matter. He had already been planning to spend his summer in San Francisco at the Academy anyway.

Most of his things could be donated, he decided, as he sorted through the remnants of his childhood. Despite growing up in the house, he wasn’t particularly attached to it or anything in it. Still, there were a few odds and ends that he wanted to keep, particularly the books he had gathered throughout the years. He knew bound books with paper pages were extremely old-fashioned, but he liked the feel of them in his hands.

In the end, he only had one additional bag when he boarded his shuttle for San Francisco, which probably said something about his childhood but Kili didn’t really want to dwell on it.

Not with the prospect of seeing Fili again before him.

Though he had told Fili when his shuttle was getting in, he really didn’t expect the older cadet to be waiting for him at the docking station. And he _definitely_ didn’t expect to be swept off his feet in a hug.

“Kili!” the blond Dwarf greeted him joyously, spinning him around in half circle and laughing at the squeak the brunet let out. “I missed you!” Fili declared as he sat the younger cadet on his feet and grabbed one of his bags.

Kili flushed in a pleased way and ducked his head. “I missed you too. How was your break?”

“Great!” Fili cried before launching into a story about Gimli and Nori getting stupendously drunk and ending up singing and dancing on the table during their Christmas Eve feast. Fili was nearly laughing with tears as he finished. 

“And to top it all off, _Thorin Oakenshield_ was there!” he said, breathless with laughter. “And they… they just… hopped up on the table! Knocked off all the food while all the other drunken idiots nearby cheered! Captain Oakenshield looked like he was going to knock a few heads together!”

“Why did they do it?” Kili asked, a little concerned about his two… friends? “They didn’t get in trouble, did they?”

Fili snorted. “Of course not.” Something on Kili’s face must’ve shown his worry because the smile quickly slipped from Fili’s face. “Don’t worry, Kee. Someone always gets drunk and does something stupid at Dwarven gatherings. Usually multiple someones. Only punishment they got was their hangovers the next day. How was your break?”

“A lot less eventful,” he told him with a wan smile. “I won’t be going back, though, because my aunt is moving.”

“Oh? Moving where?” Fili asked absently as he led Kili through the throngs of other cadets newly arrived from break.

“She didn’t really say,” Kili said, and the blond shot him a sharp look.

“She’s just abandoning you without telling you where she’s going?” he asked angrily.

He rolled his eyes. “She’s hardly abandoning me,” he said defensively. “I’m eighteen. I’m of age.”

Fili scowled. “On a Dwarven planet, you wouldn’t be of age for another seven years.”

He bit his lip and looked down. “Yeah, well, I’m not a real Dwarf, now, am I?” he snapped. He didn’t mean to. He knew Fili hadn’t meant it to sound like he was a child or anything, but it certainly _sounded_ that way. And Kili really didn’t like the reminder than Fili was about a decade older than him.

The blond gave him a stunned look before determination set in his face and he quickly drug Kili the rest of the way to their dorm room.

“What idiot told you that you weren’t a real Dwarf?!?” he growled as soon as the door was shut.

Kili was shocked at the vehemence behind Fili’s words. “E-everyone,” he stammered, looking down. “They aren’t wrong. My great-great-grandmother was human.”

“So you are a sixteenth human. Who cares?” Fili scoffed. “It doesn’t make you less of a Dwarf.”

He snorted. “Mathematically it does,” he pointed out.

“Well, you’re a Dwarf to me and everyone else here,” the blond said petulantly before hesitating. “Unless… you don’t want to be considered a Dwarf?”

Kili’s eyes widened. “Of course I do!” he assured. “I just… never really felt like I belonged anywhere…”

He was still gazing sadly at the floor so he was surprised when warm arms wrapped around him and pulled him into a gentle embrace. “You belong here. Whether you want to be a Dwarf or a human or even a damn Elf, you belong here. You’re Starfleet, just like the rest of us.”

Warmth bloomed in his chest as he looked up into Fili sincere eyes. “I like that,” he whispered, letting himself soak in the comfort of Fili’s hold, happy to feel as if he actually _did_ belong.

 

#

 

Spring semester saw Fili at his side more often than not. They spent time apart, of course, because of classes and drills and stuff, but every other second of the day was spent together. 

Kili couldn’t help but go around in a haze of happiness as a result. He knew Fili probably only saw him as a little brother, what with the age difference between them and all, but he still basked in the attention.

“Who is that blond Dwarf you are always with?” Arwen asked him one day, her gray eyes twinkling mischievously. He felt a certain kinship with his fellow lab assistant, and they had gotten surprisingly close over the first month of the semester. Both were mixed breeds of sort, though you would never know Arwen wasn’t a full-blooded Elf just by looking at her.

“Oh, um, he’s my roommate,” he muttered, busying himself with preparing samples for Professor Belham. 

“Kili, you can’t expect me to believe that you’re _just_ roommates,” she told him with a raised brow. “You’re practically inseparable!”

“Well, we’re also friends,” he said defensively. “He doesn’t see me as anything else.”

A sympathetic smile crossed her lips. “But you see him that way,” she guessed.

He bit his lip before sighing. “Have you ever heard of the Dwarven concept of Ones?” he asked, having been thinking about the subject for the past few weeks and needing to talk to _someone_ about it.

“Sure,” Arwen answered with a tilt of her head. “Though not in detail. You Dwarves are too secretive sometimes. But they’re something like soulmates, right? Some of the Dwarven doctors I work with say that the connection is strong enough to keep an injured Dwarf alive long enough to save their lives in some cases.”

“I don’t know about all of that,” Kili said with a shrug. “But they’re similar to soulmates, I guess. Except most people think of soulmates as something that is always reciprocated. A Dwarf’s One isn’t always.”

“Oh, Kili,” she said, eyes impossibly sad. “You think Fili’s your One but you’re not his?”

“It’s fine,” he told her, brushing off her sympathy. “I didn’t ever really expect to even have friends, especially Dwarven friends. I can be happy with just that.”

She didn’t look like she believed him but she let it go.

Acknowledging to himself that Fili was his One, though, made not having him even worse. On some level, he had always known that he was. The instant connection he had felt with the blond Dwarf was a pretty big clue, especially since he had such little experience with connecting with people period.

“You’re staying over Spring Break, right?” Fili asked him when he got back to the dorm room, handing him a carton of Chinese takeout, which Kili took gratefully.

“Yeah,” he answered, joining Fili on his bed but making sure to keep as far away from him as possible.

“My parents are coming to visit,” Fili told him, causing his heart to sink. That meant that he wouldn’t get to spend time with the blond like he had hoped. “They want to meet you.”

He started at that. “Why?”

“Because I’ve told them all about you,” he explained. “And they want to meet you. Now come on, let’s get some dinner.”

To say that Kili fretted about meeting Fili’s parents in the weeks leading up to Spring Break would have been a massive understatement. He was _terrified_. And he knew he was being ridiculous. He was meeting Fili’s parents as his _friend_. He didn’t have to impress them. They wouldn’t be scrutinizing him. It was _fine_.

That didn’t really make him feel better, though. Not when he wanted to be so much more than friends with Fili.

The blond didn’t really tell him when his parents were coming, so it was with shock that Kili tumbled into his dorm room the Thursday before break started to find two unfamiliar Dwarves there with Fili.

“You must be Kili!” Fili’s mother cried, coming forward and giving him a warm hug. “Wonderful to meet you, dear. I’m Fili’s mother, Dis, and this is his father, Frerin.”

“Please to meet you, ma’am, sir,” he managed to stutter out.

“None of that, now,” Frerin said cheerfully, clapping him on the back. “But now that you’re here, we can go get some dinner,” he continued, leading him out of the dorm with his hand still on his back. Kili looked back helplessly to Fili, who just gave him a smile and a shrug. “Now, last time I here, there was a great restaurant that served the best steak I ever had. Let’s say we hunt it down.”

“I don’t want to intrude…” he tried to say.

“Nonsense,” Fili’s father said as they exited the building. “Now Fili tells us you were raised by your aunt in London. Are there a lot of Dwarves there?”

“There’s a good community of us,” he replied, unsure about using the term _us_ , but Fili had told him that he was a Dwarf if he wanted to be one. “Mostly from Gazaz Bhanad.”

Frerin snorted. “I hope they weren’t all stuck-up snobs like most Dwarves from Gazaz Bhanad. Still, at least you were raised among your people, though you’ll find Ered Luin Dwarves are way more fun,” he told him with a laugh and a wink. 

Kili just smiled back, not having the heart to tell him that, because the other Dwarves in his community didn’t consider him a real Dwarf, he wasn’t really raised in the Dwarven traditions.

“So you’re in the tactical track?” Fili’s father asked, changing the subject. “I’m going to be honest, son, I have no idea what that means, but I’m sure a smart Dwarf like you has a bright future ahead of you. Where do you want to be though?”

“Uh, on a starship,” Kili answered, as he tried to keep up with what Frerin was saying. “I’d like to be a tactical officer. Maybe chief tactical officer someday.”

“I have no doubt you will, but what does a tactical officer _do_? All I know is that Fili wants to fly ships,” he laughed with not one bit of self-consciousness at his own lack of knowledge. “I’m afraid you’ll have to explain it to an old Dwarf like me.”

“Tactical officers handle navigation and the shield and weapons systems,” Kili told him with a shy smile. “There are only a few stationed on each starship so it’s pretty competitive, but I’m hoping to get stationed on one.”

“I doubt you’d be in the program if they weren’t saving a space for you,” Frerin said with wink. “So you’ll be one of the ones telling my son where to go, then?”

He gave a weak chuckle. “Maybe one day, if we get stationed on the same ship.”

Kili’s heart sank as he realized that he and Fili might _not_ be stationed on the same starship. Hell, he wasn’t even sure Fili _wanted_ to be on a starship. There were plenty of other positions for pilots other than just helmsman. 

“Oh, I’m sure they wouldn’t separate you once—”

“Here we are!” Dis cut him, taking Kili’s hand and pulling him away from Frerin. “Let’s not talk Kili’s ears off, Frerin. Poor boy needs some food in him to put some meat on those bones.”

Kili glared at Fili, who was stifling a laugh.

“So Fili told us that you were working in a lab earlier today,” Dis commented once they were seated. “What are you working on?”

“Well, today I was working in the advanced physics lab assisting Lieutenant Commander Miner,” Kili answered, much more comfortable talking about research than he was about himself. “He invited me to help him work out some equations for his transwarp beaming theory. If we can figure it out, it will revolutionize transportation. And while I think the lieutenant commander is reaching in thinking he could be able to beam a person from one star system to another because there are just too many variables, I do think that we may be able to expand our current beaming range exponentially…”

Kili trailed off as he realized he was rambling a bit and he was sure that no one at the table wanted to hear his technobabble.

Dis, however, smiled at him. “Fili was right,” she told him with a wink. “You are cute when you get to talking about something you love.”

He blushed at that, sneaking a look at Fili who thankfully wasn’t paying attention to the conversation as he bantered with his father over appetizers choices. “I’m sure he didn’t use those exact words.”

She shrugged. “Close enough, but I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate me repeating everything he tells me.” The way she said that made Kili want to press her, but he didn’t think he was allowed. “Now, what do you think you’ll order?”

He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but by the end of that dinner, he was fairly certain that he had been all but adopted by the Durins. This was further reinforced by the fact that they made sure to include him on their outings for their entire visit.

“They liked you,” Fili said by way of explanation after they had gone back to Ered Luin.

“Yeah, but they traveled sixteen lightyears to see _you_ , not me,” Kili argued. “I didn’t want to draw their attention away from you.”

The blond only shrugged. “I didn’t mind sharing their attention.”

 

#

 

A couple of weeks later, Kili walked into his dorm room only to be greeted by a loud shout of “SURPRISE!”

He blinked as he took in the sight of Fili beaming at him with a chocolate cake in his hands, nineteen tiny candles casting a bright glow onto his face. Gimli and Nori stood slightly behind him, shiny conical hats on their heads.

“How did you know it was my birthday?” he asked in bewilderment. The only reason he had ever really paid attention to his birthday before was to keep track of how long it would be before he could be stationed on a starship. He certainly hadn’t expected his new friends to celebrate it.

“It’s really not hard to find out things like that if you know the right people to bribe,” Nori told him matter-of-factly.

“But why…?”

Fili’s grin softened into a gentle smile. “Because we want to celebrate the fact that you were born and that Mahal brought you here to us,” he told him earnestly.

“Yes, that,” Gimli agreed with a serious nod. “We also wanted cake.”

Fili threw an elbow back to hit him, but Gimli dodged. “You’re lucky I’m holding the cake,” he snapped before giving Kili an apologetic look. “Ignore these idiots and make your wish.”

Kili smiled and shook his head fondly, but did as asked. He didn’t really know what to wish for, though, so he just blew out the candles without thinking. “I thought this was an Earthen tradition?” he teased after all the tiny flames had been extinguished.

“Humans have some good ideas occasionally,” Nori commented, taking the cake from Fili’s hands and setting it on his desk, deftly slicing four pieces off. He handed the first to Kili before handing out the others.

Fili pushed him down to sit on the nearest bed before handing him a soda and plopping down next to him. “Eat up,” he encouraged, taking a large bite of cake and smiling.

He took a smaller bite, savoring the chocolaty flavor as he chewed. “Thanks, you guys,” he said after he had swallowed.

“Thank Fili,” Gimli told him. “He’s the one who planned everything.”

Fili blushed when Kili looked at him. “Nori was the one who found out when your birthday was.”

“Only to shut you up,” the other Dwarf muttered. “You kept wondering when he was going to turn nineteen.”

“You could’ve just asked,” Kili pointed out with a chuckle.

The blond rolled his eyes. “That would’ve ruined the surprise.”

“Well, thank you,” Kili said shyly.

Such a gesture definitely wasn’t going to help him cope with his feelings for Fili, but he didn’t care. The fact that his One cared for him in some way was enough for him.

 

#

 

Finally, the last day of classes arrived, with the reading period and exams the only things left before Fili graduated and left him.

Kili was positive his heart was going to shatter.

Per usual, there was a large party to unwind and decompress before the stress of finals fully set in. Kili was sure it must have been sort of a universal tradition, as the Academy in London did the same thing. It wasn’t something he had ever participated in before.

Fili, Gimli, and Nori were going, though, and of course Fili invited him along.

“Arwen Undomiel might be there,” Gimli said suggestively when Kili hesitated. 

“No, she won’t,” Kili told him, not really sure why it would matter anyway. “She has a shift in the hospital tonight.”

“Oh, she’s a doctor, now, is she?” Nori asked, waggling his eyebrows at him.

“Well, yeah…” he said, completely bewildered at the question. “I thought you knew that. She’s only TAing for Professor Belham to get her xenobiology credit out of the way.”

“Enough about Arwen,” Fili cut in impatiently. “Are you coming or not?”

He blushed as he realized he had been holding them up. Since they had waited around, he really couldn’t say _no_. “I guess I could go for a little while…”

“Great,” the blond replied shortly, stuffing his comm in his pocket and all but stomping out the door.

Kili stared after him in confusion for a moment, wondering what had gotten Fili so mad, while Gimli and Nori just laughed. He frowned, feeling like he was missing something and not liking it one bit. He quickly followed Fili out the door and caught up with him before the other two did.

“Did you not want me to come?” he asked around the lump in his throat. “I don’t mean to be a bother…”

Fili stopped short and gave him an incredulous look. “Not want you to… Kili, you’ve never been a bother to me,” he said in exasperation, groaning as he began walking again. “Of _course_ , I want you to come.”

“Then why are you angry?”

“Because Gimli and Nori are being stupid shits,” he replied, loud enough so the two Dwarves approaching them could hear.

“Well, that’s not very nice,” Nori declared. “Someone’s a little too sensitive. It’s a shame when a grown Dwarf can’t take a little bit of teasing, isn’t it, Gimli?”

“It really is,” the other Dwarf agreed morosely. “Such a shame.”

Kili was confused again, but he decided it was probably better he didn’t ask. If they had wanted him to be in on the joke, after all, they would have explained it to him.

The party was already raging when they got to it. Kili tried to stay close to his friends without seeming pathetic. That was made harder, though, when they all went in separate directions and Kili managed to lose sight of every single one of them.

Someone he didn’t know pressed a beer into his hand after a while, and he retreated into a more secluded corner and sipped on it tentatively. It wasn’t very cold, and he didn’t particularly like the taste, but people were supposed to drink at these kinds of things, right?

He didn’t know how long he stood there awkwardly nursing his too-warm beer alone, but he was infinitely grateful when Fili joined him.

“You’re not supposed to be drinking,” the blond Dwarf slurred, leaning in close and plucking the beer from Kili’s hands and downing it himself.

Kili blinked at Fili. “Are you… drunk?”

He had never seen Fili drunk. Fili never _got_ drunk. His roommate had never been anything but calm and collected and completely in control.

“No,” Fili denied, swaying dangerously. Kili reached out to grab his shoulder and steady him. Fili stumbled closer to him, though, and his arm ended up around Fili’s shoulders while the blond’s arms were both wrapped his waist.

He gulped as he realized how close they were.

“You’re too young to drink,” Fili said seriously, staring into Kili’s eyes. “You’re too young for a lot of things.”

Kili frowned at that. “I’m not that young,” he protested instinctively.

“Yes, you are,” Fili said sadly. “If you weren’t, I could do this.”

Before Kili could even ask what “this” was, Fili’s lips were on his. He gasped, and the blond took advantage of his open mouth to snake his tongue into his mouth.

Kili moaned into the kiss and stepped closer to Fili. He had never been kissed before, but it felt _amazing_ , despite the unpleasant taste of beer. And it was made even better by the fact that this was _Fili_. 

Before he could figure out if he was supposed to do anything with his own tongue, though, Fili broke away with a look of horror on his face. “Shit, Kili, I didn’t mean to… we shouldn’t have… This was a mistake… Dammit!”

Kili was left standing there with a gaping mouth as Fili turned and ran away. His heart sank. It was a mistake? Did that mean Fili hadn’t wanted to kiss him? Why had he then? Was it just because he was drunk and Kili was _there_? What if he knew how Kili felt and felt sorry for him? Maybe that’s why he made the young comment. Maybe he wished he could return Kili’s feelings but could never love someone so young…

He wanted to cry at the thought, but he had enough dignity to not cry in public. Which is why he made a quick exit and bolted for his dorm, praying Fili hadn’t already returned. 

His dorm room was blessedly empty when he entered, and he quickly threw on some sweatpants before curling up in his bed, tears already streaming down his face.

It was hours later before Fili came back, but he was still awake.

“Kili?” Fili’s rough voice called softly.

He kept his eyes closed and pretended to be asleep, unable to face the humiliation of talking to Fili just yet. He heard the blond sigh before crawling into his own bed, obviously not even bothering to undress.

Despite his hurt feelings, Kili still felt better with the soft sound of Fili’s breathing filling the room, and he was eventually able to let it lull him into sleep.

 

#

 

Fili was gone the next morning when he woke up. Kili wasn’t sure if he was glad or disappointed. Though he wanted to put off a potentially painful conversation for as long as possible, he didn’t think it was the best to let things fester.

He resolved to wait in the room for Fili to return, which he would have to do as some point. So he got some food from the replicator instead of going to the mess hall for breakfast. Or rather lunch, he realized ruefully, as he looked at the chronometer. 

After eating, he grabbed his PADD to study while waiting for Fili to return. However, before he even opened his notes, the red emergency light over their door began blinking. He froze, heart beating wildly in his chest as a robotic voice came over the intercom system, repeating the same sentence over and over again.

“All cadets years three and higher are ordered to report to the loading dock for immediate departure. All cadets years three and higher are ordered to report to the loading dock for immediate departure. All…”

Kili sprung off the bed and threw his clothes off, hands shaking slightly as he pulled on his red cadet uniform. He was just tugging on the uniform’s jacket when Fili barreled through the door and began to change.

Kili met the blond’s eyes briefly as he was pulling his dark hair into a slightly messy knot at the nape of his neck. Fili held his gaze for a moment, guilt heavy in his blue eyes, before he looked down to button his jacket. He wanted to talk, but there was no time.

Instead, he gave the blond a tight smile as they both finished dressing and hastened to the loading dock. They had to split up there as they weren’t assigned to the same units, but Kili couldn’t help but pray that they were assigned to the same starship.

That, of course, left him to wonder why exactly cadets were being sent into space. Probably a distress call, Kili quickly surmised. With the bulk of the fleet clashing with Orcs on the far side of the galaxy, any distress signal was left to be answered by the Academy.

“Disson, _Enterprise_ ,” his commander barked, before continuing down the list of assignments. 

Pride swelled within him as the rest of the names washed over him until they were finally dismissed. He would get his exact assignment on his comm later, hopefully before he got to the ship, but he was on the _Enterprise_. That was the brand new constitutional class ship under Captain Oakenshield that was set to be the flagship of the entire fleet.

Kili walked as fast as he could to the nearest shuttle going to the _Enterprise_ , taking a deep breath to quell his nervous excitement. It would take them an hour to get to where the ship was docked. He took out his comm, but there was no new message with his assignment on it so all there was left to do relax into the shuttle seat and wait.

However, since there was absolutely no way he could relax at the moment, he kept staring at his comm, willing the indicator light to blink so that he could feel like he was doing something.

After what felt like ages, the light finally blinked, and he had the message pulled up in a second, frowning as he realized there was a file attached to the simple message, that read, “Bridge, Tactical Station, Alpha.”

The file made sense now. He was the Alpha shift bridge tactical officer. It was the job the chief tactical officer generally took. He thumbed open the file and read the info packet about their mission. 

He had been right that it was a distress call. From Erebor, the Dwarven planet on the outskirts of the Khuzdul system. Their sensors were picking up activity from multiple volcanoes, both known active ones and those that haven’t erupted in thousands of years. The suddenness of the readings had them concerned, and they were requesting aid from Starfleet.

He had a brief moment of sympathy for Captain Oakenshield, who was from Erebor and no doubt had family and friends in danger, before the docking station came into sight and he caught his first glimpse of the _U.S.S. Enterprise_.

Kili’s breath caught in his throat. He had seen pictures, of course, but nothing could prepare him for the sheer enormity of the starship. It was magnificent.

As soon as the shuttle docked, he was out and hunting down his assigned bunk, surprised to realize that he got his own room. He shouldn’t have been shocked, though, considering he was basically playing at being chief tactical officer on this mission.

He didn’t take too long to take in his assigned space, instead getting his duty uniform from the replicator and quickly pulling on the standard black pants and the bright gold command shirt. He was out the door again in a moment, knowing he was supposed to be at his post as soon as possible.

He was one of the first people on the bridge. He felt more at ease as he spotted the familiar face at the communications station, Gimli shooting him a wink as he settled at the tactical post and began plotting their course to Erebor.

Even with the advanced warp capabilities of the new ship, it would still take them a little under two days to get to the planet, he calculated. Mapping such a distance traveling at warp wasn’t easy. He had to take into account any astronomical objects in their path, both predictable and unpredictable. It was made a bit easier because it was a common route, but it was still delicate work.

He was so caught up in his calculations that he didn’t even notice when the helmsman settled at his station next to him and began warming up the thrusters. Kili finally looked up once he was satisfied that their course was set and was stunned to meet the blue eyes of Fili.

The blond gave him a tentative smile but wasn’t able to say anything before Captain Oakenshield strode confidently onto the bridge, followed by his first officer, Commander Telcontar.

“Ensign, is our course set?” he asked as he settled in the captain’s chair, voice soft, but deep and full of authority.

It took Kili half a beat to realize he was talking to _him_.

“Yes, Captain,” he answered hastily. “Course set. Estimated time to Erebor traveling at warp five: 44.32 hours.”

“Great. Lieutenant, take us out,” Oakenshield told Fili.

The blond Dwarf took a deep breath before pushing the thrusters into warp. 

Kili watched in awe as the stars blurred in front them. He was vaguely aware that Gimli was making a ship-wide announcement about their mission, repeating everything that Kili already knew. He turned to share the moment with Fili, but the smile died on his face as he realized that the blond was resolutely not looking at him.

Even though they were sitting two feet from each other, he felt like they were lightyears away.

The eight hour Alpha shift stretched on forever. There were few responsibilities to take care of while they were in warp. Sure, Kili made sure that the other members of tactical were inventorying the emergency provisions they were bringing to Erebor, but that didn’t occupy his mind much.

He desperately wanted to turn to Fili and talk, but he wasn’t sure if his conversation would be welcome. The other bridge officers were chatting quietly with their neighbors as the monitored the ship, but his and Fili’s stations were situated at the front of the bridge, right in front of the viewport, and the nearest officer to them was the captain, and Kili _really_ didn’t feel brave enough to make small talk with the great Thorin Oakenshield.

It was a relief, then, when the Beta shift navigator arrived to take his place. Fili’s replacement came at the same time as his, meaning they were forced to share the turbolift ride to their quarters.

“Kili, can we talk?” Fili asked quietly, giving him a regretful gaze.

He wasn’t sure what that look meant, but he nodded anyway, trying to tell himself that it didn’t matter as he followed Fili to his quarters, which just so happened to be right next door to his own. Brilliant.

But it _didn’t_ matter. He had survived eighteen years on his own before he met Fili. No matter what the outcome of their conversation, he would be _fine_.

He knew lying to himself wasn’t healthy, but he was beyond caring.

Fili sighed heavily once they were inside, leaning against the wall next to the door in defeat. “I am so sorry, Kili,” he told him softly.

Kili didn’t really know what to say to that. He didn’t even know what exactly Fili was apologizing _for_. “Why?”

The blond gave him a broken look. “ _Why_? Mahal, Kili, I practically threw myself at you and stuck my tongue down your throat!” he cried with a shake of his head. “Can you please at least tell me that wasn’t your first kiss?”

“That doesn’t matter,” he said in a small voice.

“Of _course_ , it matters!” Fili told him harshly. “You shouldn’t have your first kiss stole by some drunken idiot when you’re just nineteen!”

“Stop acting like being nineteen makes me some baby that has to be protected!” Kili shot back, all his hurt feelings from the night before bursting forth as anger. “Maybe Dwarves technically come of age at twenty five, but you and I both know that they’re considered grown at age twenty. I’m less than a year shy of that! So if you regret kissing me, just say so and don’t use my age as an excuse!”

“It’s not an excuse!” Fili tried to argue, but Kili was already out the door, stomping to his own room and locking the door, determined to forget all about the blond’s existence until their next shift together.

He stayed in his room until his next shift, stewing in his anger and eating only from the replicator. He took a quick sonic shower before reporting to Alpha shift, resolutely not at Fili as he took his place next to him.

“Kili, _please_ ,” Fili pleaded softly about six hours into their shift. “Will you at least let me explain?”

“What’s there to explain?” he hissed back, still not looking at him. If he looked at him, he might be tempted to give in. “You got drunk and kissed me when you clearly didn’t want to. And now—”

“Didn’t want to!” Fili interrupted, louder than he intended to from the panicked glance he gave to the rest of the bridge. Thankfully, no one else seemed to be paying attention. “Kili, you’re _nineteen_ ,” he whispered earnestly, once again putting an emphasis on his age that rankled Kili. “I shouldn’t even _touch_ you, let alone _kiss_ you, until you’re twenty.”

“What a stupid rule,” Kili scoffed. “And you called Starfleet’s age restrictions dumb.”

The pilot scowled at him. “You know damn well that this is different,” he growled, turning back to the viewport and stared out at the galaxy blurring by a warp-speed. “If you don’t hate me now, you _will_ if you turn twenty and I’m not your One.”

He started at that and snapped his head to stare at Fili. “What?” he asked breathlessly. “What does my age have to do with that?”

Fili looked at him in confusion before comprehension dawned on his face. “Your aunt never taught you about Dwarven traditions,” he said in a pained voice.

Kili shook his head in confusion. “No. They’re only for real Dwarves, she said,” he said bitterly.

He could see Fili’s jaw clench at that. The blond glanced around the bridge and sighed. “Can we please talk after shift?”

Kili wasn’t sure this talk would go any better than the other but he nodded anyway. There was obviously something he was missing.

At the start of Beta shift, he followed Fili once again to his room, giving him an expectant look as the door slid shut behind them. “Okay, explain.”

Fili sighed. “Can you come in and sit down first at least?”

“No,” he said firmly, knowing he was being a bit unreasonable but not caring. He didn’t even know what he was supposed to be feeling right now so he needed Fili to explain what it was that he was missing.

“Fine,” he said in defeat. “I guess the best place to start is to ask if you know what Ones are?”

Kili rolled his eyes at that. “It’s pretty much common knowledge that their Dwarven soulmates.”

“They’re more than soulmates,” he told him with pursed lips. “Dwarves are constant. We don’t change easily, and once we give our hearts, they always belong to that person. And when we meet that person, our One, we just know. They’re the One who own our hearts, the One who makes us whole.”

Kili swallowed and nodded. He definitely understood _just knowing_.

“But younger Dwarves aren’t old enough to know who their Ones are,” Fili continued, giving Kili a meaningful look. “That’s why Dwarves aren’t considered grown until age twenty. That is the earliest a Dwarf has _ever_ recognized their One.”

“But I was eighteen,” he murmured in confusion.

“What?” the blond asked, stunned.

Kili blushed as he realized he had said that out loud. “I mean—”

“Kili,” Fili said seriously, stepping forward and grabbing him by the shoulders. “What do you mean you were eighteen?”

He bit his lip and looked down. “That’s when I knew you were my One,” he admitted.

“Are you sure?” 

Fili’s voice sounded off to his ears, but he nodded, still not looking him in the eye. “My human blood must’ve let me know it sooner,” he mumbled with a shrug. “Humans mature faster than Dwarves, after all.”

“Kili, you have to be 100% sure about this,” the blond said urgently.

“Fili, I _know_ that you’re my One,” he finally snapped in exasperation. “I may not have been raised knowing all of this but—umph!”

He was cut off by Fili’s lips colliding with his own, but he wasn’t going to complain. He relaxed into the kiss, sighing as Fili backed him up so that he was pressed against the wall. Kili gasped as Fili nipped at his lower lip, tongue coming out to sooth the area before diving into his mouth. 

This was so different than the kiss from before. The other Dwarf was holding him firmly, methodically exploring every crevice of his mouth. Kili brought his hands up to tangle in Fili’s golden hair, tentatively snaking his own tongue out to wrap around Fili’s.

The blond groaned and pressed closer to Kili before breaking the kiss with a heavy pant and leaning their foreheads together. “You’re my One, too,” he told him breathlessly. “I didn’t want to say anything, though…”

“Because you thought that I wouldn’t be able to tell yet,” Kili finished for him.

“And I didn’t want to pressure you into anything,” Fili said earnestly. “If I had and it turned out I _wasn’t_ your One… you’d regret it for the rest of your life.”

A smile crept over Kili’s face as he began to understand Fili’s behavior. “So you didn’t regret kissing me because it was me? You regretted kissing me because you thought _I’d_ regret it?” he clarified.

“Yes,” he said, arms wrapping around Kili’s waist. “Seems a bit unnecessary now.”

Kili wasn’t sure if he had ever felt this happy. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Fili murmured, leaning in to kiss him softly. “Now, what’s say we eat a quick meal from the replicator before getting some sleep? Our next shift starts earlier so that we’ll be on duty when we come out of warp.”

He nodded in agreement and let Fili lead him deeper into the room. They ate in relative silence, both famished after eight hours on shift. That didn’t keep them from sneaking look and smiles at each other, though, with one or two kisses thrown in for good measure.

Afterwards, they fell into bed together. Not like _that_ , of course, though just the thought sent a thrill of nervous excitement through Kili.

He sighed as Fili tucked him tightly against him, hooking his chin over Kili’s head. He smiled into Fili’s neck and brushed a daring kiss to his collarbone. Fili nuzzled into his hair and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“I love you,” the blond murmured. “Sorry I ran away the other night.”

“I love you, too,” Kili said. “And you’re forgiven. As long as you don’t do it again.”

“Never again,” Fili promised.

 

#

 

After what was quite possibly the best sleep Kili had ever had and a quick breakfast, they were back on shift again.

“Dropping out of warp in five minutes, Captain,” Kili announced, eyes fixed on the timer on his display screen.

“Captain, we should come out of warp with our shields at maximum,” he heard Commander Telcontar advise the captain softly.

Kili snuck a glance behind him to see Oakenshield give the first officer a thoughtful look. Having shields up when dropping out of warp was far from typical. He was surprised the captain was even considering it. Putting shields at maximum would divert power from the rest of the ship, and with the amount of power the warp engines used, it was a risk.

So he was surprised, to say the least, at the captain’s decision.

“Shields at maximum, Ensign Disson.”

He bit his lip to stop from questioning the order and raised the ship’s shields. “Shields up, Captain,” he confirmed. His eyes darted to the timer on the display. “One minute ’til arrival.”

The entire atmosphere on the bridge was tense. They all seemed to waiting with baited breath. Fili shifted forward next to him, hands coming up to the controls, prepared to pilot the ship as soon as it dropped out of warp. Kili leaned forward as well, staring out of the viewport in anticipation.

He didn’t know if the shields being up was the reason for the anxious mood, but he didn’t think they helped. Especially when they were just going to give aid for a planetary natural disaster.

“Dropping out of warp in ten, nine, eight,” Kili counted down with the numbers, eyes switching between the displace and viewpoint rapidly. “Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”

They came out of warp with an unexpected jerk, and Kili stared in horror at the unexpected destruction before them. 

The other ships that flew with them were… gone. All that was left was floating debris floating in space.

It took half a second longer for Kili to realize that the jerk was a proton torpedo hitting them. If their shields hadn’t been up, they’d likely all be dead.

He tried to push down the fear that threatened to engulf as Fili expertly maneuvered them around the remains of the other ships. Kili’s eyes scanned the display in front of him. His eyes widened as he realized how hard they were being pummeled. 

“Shields at 55%, Captain,” he told him urgently, the adrenaline pumping through him the only thing keeping him from panicking. “And dropping fast!”

“Captain, we’re being hailed!” Gimli proclaimed.

“Put it up,” Oakenshield said calmly. How he could be so calm, Kili had no idea.

Immediately, the image of a red, reptilian humanoid appeared over the viewport. “Thorin Oakenshield,” the unknown threat almost purred the name. “I was hoping you would come in time to witness the destruction of your home.”

“Smaug,” the captain intoned coldly. “I didn’t realize the Wyrms were prepared to declare full-on war with the Federation.”

“Oh, I do not stand with the Empire,” Smaug assured him, voice dripping with arrogance. Kili glanced nervously at Fili, who tried to shoot him a reassuring smile, only it came off a little more like a grimace. “This is a much more personal venture. Or did you think I would forget what you and your crew did to me the last we met?”

“You were breaking Federation law and putting millions of people in the Eregion star system at risk,” Thorin argued cooly. “What force we used to subdue you was necessary. Now, I ask you to come quietly now so that we do not have to use force this time.”

Smaug chuckled at that. “Your comrades have fallen and you stand alone. I do not think I have much to fear. However, if you would like to parlay with me in order to plead for the life of your pathetic little planet, well, I have no problem with that. But you shall come alone.”

“Very well,” he agreed, to the immediate disapproval of his first officer.

“Captain, I don’t think—”

“I have to, Aragorn,” the captain told him quietly, so quietly that Kili could barely hear. “If Smaug continues his attack, we’ll all be dead.”

“Oh,” Smaug spoke up again, grinning at Thorin’s agreement. “I forgot to mention that you’ll find that your transporter is not operational. That’s my fault, really. The heat from our core blaster disrupts the signal. I’m afraid you’ll have to use a shuttle. I shall expect you shortly.”

The communication was cut and they all looked to the captain in expectation.

“Ensign, can you tell me anything about the weapon they are using to damage the core?”

Kili’s eyes widened at the question before he quickly ran all the scans he could think to on the planet below. “It’s on this side of the planet,” he stated, staring at the readings on his display intently. “It’s emitting a highly intense beam of energy through the planetary surface straight down to the core.”

“Where? Why wasn’t it noticed before?” Commander Telcontar asked urgently.

“There are no settlements in that area,” Kili explained. 

“The entire northern hemisphere of Erebor is uninhabitable because of the extreme tilt of its axis,” Captain Oakenshield elaborated, obviously more familiar with his home planet than any of them were. “Ensign, the weapon is connected to the ship, right? Would it be possible to drop a team onto it to dismantle it?”

Kili pulled up a visual of the weapon and put it on the viewport. “There’s a platform above the beam that is big enough to land on, but the velocity of a dive would be significant due to the gravity of the planet. There would also be a problem of retrieving them should they fail.”

“But if they disabled the weapon, would the transporter interference disappear?”

He did the math quickly in his head. He had to guess at the temperature spike caused by the weapon. The heat from the beam had to be low enough so that it was not consuming the atmosphere, but hot enough so that it could easily pierce the mass of the planet.

“My best estimate would be that it would take at most ten minutes for the atmosphere to cool to a level where our transporter would be operational,” Kili said, heart pounding as he realized people’s _lives_ were counting on his accuracy.

Oakenshield nodded at that. “Okay. Commander, you’ll have the conn while I am gone. I’ll need someone with combat training to lead the away team.” He gave an expectant look around the room.

“I have combat training, sir,” Fili volunteered.

Kili jerked his head to look at the blond Dwarf in horrified betrayal. _No_.

Fili gave him an apologetic look as the captain nodded. “Good. Lieutenant Durin, you’ll lead the team then. Lieutenant Gloinson, contact security and have Lieutenant Greenleaf and Ensign Silvan meet us on in the shuttle bay. They will be joining Durin in the jump. Ensign Disson, you will be overseeing their jump and return from the bridge.”

Kili kept his eyes fixed on Fili as he and the captain left the bridge, praying that it wouldn’t be the last time he saw him. He blinked back tears before turning back to his station. They would be counting on him to direct them.

A strong hand fell on his shoulder. “You will see him again,” the soft voice of Commander Telcontar told him.

He swallowed thickly. “You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do,” he replied surely, causing Kili to look at him in confusion. The commander gave him a soft smile. “I am part Numenorean. I don’t have a strong psychic gift, but I do get certain feelings sometimes. And my feeling tell me that you two will be together for many years yet.”

The crushing fear inside him eased at that. The Numenoreans were known to have reliable psychic abilities. Commander Telcontar being part Numenorean explained Captain Oakenshield taking his suggestion to raise their shield seriously. And if he believed Fili was coming back, then the logical part of Kili’s brain told him that he should as well.

It didn’t complete ease his worry, but it helped him focus on the task at hand.

By the time the captain and away team were in the shuttle, he was ready. His eyes tracked their progress on his display and took a deep breath as they neared the drop point.

“Open shuttle doors,” he ordered as they got close. There was a very small window in which they had to jump and they couldn’t miss it. “Release in five, four, three, two, one.”

He tried to stay detached as he watched the three signals drop from the shuttle and plummet towards the planet. He couldn’t focus on the fact that one of them was Fili. It wouldn’t help either of them. As they got closer and closer to the platform, he leaned in closer to the display anxiously.

“Pull your chute in five, four, three, two, one,” he said, sighing in relief as all three signals suddenly slowed their descent. Before long, they were on the platform.

The bridge was silent as they waited for the team to report in. The silence stretched on forever to Kili’s mind before Fili’s voice was finally heard on the comm.

“Durin to Enterprise, the weapon is disabled. Standing by for beaming.”

Kili monitored the temperature, which was thankfully decreasing rapidly. Keeping an eye on the temperature, Kili did a quick scan of the volcanic activity that had been threatening the planet and frowned at the readings he got.

“Commander, the planet is still unstable due to the overheated core,” he said worriedly. “Scans indicate a 65% chance of mass eruptions planet-wide.”

“How many volcanoes on Erebor?” Aragorn asked.

“Over a thousand, though only about a third are inhabited regions,” Kili stated. “Still, if they were all to erupt at the same time, calculations indicate that three-fourths of the population would be wiped out.”

“How long do we have?”

Kili bit his lip and looked at his display. “It’s difficult to say,” he said uncertainly. “But with the removal of the weapon, I would estimate that we have anywhere from four to seven days.”

He looked back to see the commander nod thoughtfully. “What’s the population of the planet?”

“3.2 billion,” he answered, realizing just how catastrophic this could turn.

“Right. Lieutenant Gloinson, send a distress signal out on all Federation frequencies asking for all available ships to aid the evacuation efforts,” Aragorn ordered.

“Aye, captain.”

The biggest ship Kili knew in existed was a commercial cruiser that could carry a maximum of 5,000 passengers. Even if every ship that answered the distress signal was that large and they overcrowded each one by a factor of ten, it would take 64,000 ships to evacuate the entire planet.

His display suddenly lit up as the temperature lowered enough for the interference to disappear. “Sir, beaming capabilities back online!” he cried.

“Very good,” the commander stated, dropping into the captain’s chair and opening the comm link. “Away team, prepare to beam up.”

“Standing by,” Fili’s voice confirmed.

“Locking on to their signals,” the engineer in the transporter room announced. Kili relaxed slightly at the knowledge that Fili was coming back safely. 

“DURIN!” a voice cried.

Kili’s heart stopped as the two signals that indicated Greenleaf and Silvan disappeared as they were beamed onto the ship, but Fili’s signal was suddenly falling rapidly from the platform.

“I can’t lock onto him!” the panicked voice of the engineer.

Terror coursed through Kili at the words. No. He couldn’t lose Fili. Not now. Not when he had barely even had him to start with.

He stared at his display as the engineer tried in vain to triangulate on Fili’s signal. Kili’s fear transformed into frustration as the engineer failed to take into account the acceleration of the Fili’s fall due to gravity.

He was _not_ going to lose Fili because some inexperienced engineering cadet couldn’t do his job.

Kili’s hands shot out, fingers dancing over his console and bypassing the system in order to control the transporter from the bridge. His hands were shaking, but it only took a few moments to lock onto to Fili’s signal and beam him up.

He nearly collapsed in relief as Fili’s signal disappeared from his display, but doing so would delay actually seeing for himself that Fili was safe. Without bothering to say a word to Commander Telcontar, he was on his feet and racing towards the transporter room. He forewent the turbolift, instead running down the stairs that led to the transporter room.

Fili was just walking out of the room when he got there. Kili didn’t even slow his stride, running straight to the blond and throwing his arms around his neck.

He didn’t even realize tears were streaming down his face until they began soaking into Fili’s shirt.

“Kili, I’m okay. I’m here. It’s okay,” the blond was murmuring comfortingly, holding him close even as the brunet trembled in his arms. Maybe before, Kili might have felt slightly pathetic for breaking down in Fili’s arms, but Fili had nearly _died_. 

Still, they were still on duty, and he had technically left his post without permission, so they needed to stop. So he stepped back from Fili’s arms, hesitating just a moment as he took in his disheveled by _alive_ One before nodding.

“We should get to the bridge.”

Kili fully expected to be reprimanded by Commander Telcontar as he stepped onto the bridge with Fili, but Aragorn barely glanced at him sliding into his seat at his station. Instead, he focused on Fili.

“Report.”

“We disabled the weapon with no problem, but a couple crewmen from the other ship attacked right before Greenleaf and Silvan were beamed out,” Fili explained. “They caught us by surprise and knocked me off the platform.”

“Are you injured?” the commander asked.

Kili looked Fili over with a critical eye even as the blond shook his head. “They just tossed me off the platform. They didn’t actually hurt me. And the beaming disrupted the force of my fall so the impact on the transporter pad was minimum.”

“Good. Looks like it was a good thing that Ensign Disson overrode the transporter controls to get you out,” Aragorn stated with a nod, causing FIli to look at Kili in surprise. “Now take the helm. We may have to pursue these bastards.”

“Sir,” Kili spoke up, having resumed his duties as soon as he sat down, despite listening in. “Scans indicate that the other ship doesn’t have enough power to warp away. The weapon that they were employing drew on the power of their core. It will take at least two hours for their power levels to rise enough to get away.”

The commander looked thoughtful. “They were probably planning on destroying us all and having time to recharge. But this gives us time to get the captain back and hopefully disable the ship.”

It sounded risky to Kili. “But commander, we don’t know how large Smaug’s crew is or why he even wanted the captain to begin with.”

“Smaug is an intergalactic criminal who has had it out for Thorin ever since he had him thrown in prison thirty years ago,” Telcontar told him. “You can bet that whatever he wants the captain for, it isn’t good.”

“Would it be possible to beam him out?” Fili asked.

Kili shook his head. “No. His signal disappeared as soon as he boarded the other ship. There’s no way to get a lock on him.”

“We’ll have to board the ship,” Aragorn decided. “I’ll lead the team myself. Lieutenant Durin, you’ll have the conn while I’m away. Lieutenant Gloinson, have Greenleaf and Silvan meet us in the transporter room. They’ll be joining me.”

Kili couldn’t help but sag a bit in relief. He was sure that the commander was about to ask Fili to go with him on the mission.

“Ensign Disson, accompany me to the transporter room,” the commander said as he stood. Fili’s head snapped to look at him, fear written plainly on his face. Kili gulped himself, not sure if he was ready to go on an away mission, but he stood anyway. 

“You handled the controls so well before that I want you to be there to beam us there and back again,” Aragorn continued as they made their way to the turbolift. “And there’s no need to bypass the system to control it from the bridge.”

It was Fili’s turn to be relieved, and he met Kili’s eyes with a small smile before the brunet stepped into the lift with the commander.

Of course, now that he was alone with Commander Telcontar, he couldn’t help but blurt out an apology. “Sir, I’m sorry for leaving my post before,” he said in a rush. “It was irresponsible and it won’t happen again.”

Aragorn gave him a knowing smirk. “Yes, it will,” he said confidently. “At least, it will if Fili ever almost dies on a mission and you know there is someone on the bridge to cover for you.”

“Sir?” he said in confusion.

“I’ve known enough Dwarven Ones serving in Starfleet to know your actions were purely instinctual,” Telcontar told him with an understanding smile. “If the ship would have been put in danger by you leaving your station, you wouldn’t have left though. Because that would have put Fili in more danger.” 

Kili frowned. “But I didn’t even _consider_ that.”

The commander raised an eyebrow. “Smart Dwarf like you? If it had been a remote possibility, you would have,” he replied before stepping off the turbolift.

He was a bit more reassured as he followed after the commander and entered the transporter room, nodding at the blond and redheaded elves that must have been Lieutenant Greenleaf and Ensign Silvan.

“Try to put us in the cargo hold, Ensign,” the commander said as they stepped onto the transporter pad.

“Aye, sir,” he said, taking hold of the controls and calculating their journey. “Energizing.”

The three disappeared in a swirl of golden light and Kili took a deep breath to steady himself.

Now all there was left to do was to wait.

Though he would have much preferred to be within eyesight of Fili, his near-death making him want visual assurance of his safety, Kili stayed put in the transporter room, knowing he would have to be ready at a second’s notice to beam the others out of Smaug’s ship.

It was a tense wait, with the away team mostly maintaining radio-silence. About half an hour in, though, they did get one quick communication from Ensign Silvan.

“Engines disabled,” she had whispered softly into the comm.

This was good, Kili knew, because it meant that Smaug couldn’t get away. It was also bad, though, because his weapon systems were still online and he could fire on them at any moment. And with their shields currently at 50%, Kili was sure a couple of good shots would destroy them. Thankfully, whatever the commander and his team were doing on board Smaug’s ship, it seemed like they were keeping them distracted enough so they didn’t fire on them.

After another half hour, Arwen joined him in the transporter room, sorting through the medical supplies kept in the transporter room and getting ready in case anyone came back injured.

“So I hear you and Fili have become something other than just friends,” she commented as she checked the anti-grav lift to ensure that it was in working order. Kili really hoped that none of their crew was injured enough to need to carried on it to sickbay.

“How could you possibly know that?” he asked in bewilderment. “We just figured things out before this shift!”

“News travels fast,” she shrugged. “Besides, Tauriel saw you two holding each other outside the transporter room earlier.”

“Tauriel?” Kili hadn’t heard the name before.

“Ensign Silvan,” Arwen explained. “She told me just before she found out about this mission. Does this mean you’re both each other’s Ones?”

“Yeah,” he admitted with a shy smile. He frowned, though, as he realized something. “What are you doing here, anyway? It’s not protocol for medical to be on standby in the transporter room.”

The smile slipped from her face and she gave him a pained look. “I have to know he’s okay,” she confided. “Dr. Peredhel gave me permission to be here.”

With the permission from the chief medical officer, Kili certainly wasn’t going to argue, even if he didn’t completely understand her need. Still, he wasn’t sure who she was referring to. “Who?”

Arwen blushed. “Commander Telcontar.”

Kili gave her a sympathetic smile before they went back to waiting in relative silence.

An hour later, Aragorn’s voice came over the comm.

“We have the captain. Beam us out, Disson!”

It took only a moment for Kili to lock onto their signals and they appeared on the transporter pad. The captain was being supported between the commander and Lieutenant Greenleaf. Arwen rushed forward with the anti-grav lift and helped Aragorn ease Thorin down onto it before they were rushing him to sickbay.

“What happened?” he asked Ensign Silvan. 

She gave him a grim look. “They were torturing him for Starfleet security codes,” she told him. “We think they wanted to deploy their weapon on more Federation planets.”

“We disabled all their weapons, communications, and transportation systems though,” Lieutenant Greenleaf assured him as he joined them. “They’re basically sitting ducks right now as we wait for backup.”

“Let’s hope it isn’t too late for the planet,” Kili replied before he returned to the bridge. Fili grinned at him as he slid into his seat.

The blond opened his mouth to say something, but the commander walked onto the bridge before he could.

“Gentlemen, Beta shift has been ordered into position,” he told them as he settled wearily into his seat. “So as soon as your relief arrives, you may leave.”

Thankfully, his and Fili’s relief reported in at about the same time. As soon as they did, Kili grabbed Fili’s hand and dragged him away, thankful that they managed to get the turbolift all to themselves because it let him drag Fili into a much needed kiss.

He could tell Fili was surprised by the suddenness of the kiss, but he didn’t hesitate to reciprocate, pulling Kili flush against him as their tongues tangled together.

They pulled away just as the lift doors opened, but only long enough to get to Kili’s room, which happened to be the closest. Then they were on each other once more, kissing and grasping desperately, as much to reassure each other of their survival as anything else.

“We should slow down,” Fili murmured, even as he trailed kisses down Kili’s throat and his hands snaked under his shirt.

“No,” Kili gasped. “Need to feel you.”

The blond managed to wrench himself away and propped himself up on his arms, looming over Kili, who lay panting on the bed beneath him.

“I won’t have our first time be a frenzied thank-Mahal-we’re-alive tumble,” Fili said seriously. “Not when neither of us really knows what we’re doing and one of us might end up hurt.”

Kili wanted to argue, but now that they had separated a bit, nerves were beginning to creep into him. Fili was right. He had no idea what he was doing and he was terrified he was going to disappoint the blond.

Wait.

“Neither of us?” he repeated questioningly.

Fili gave him a gently smile before kissing him chastely and rolling to his side. Kili turned towards him as the blond slung an arm around his waist and pulled him close.

“Neither of us,” he confirmed, dropping another kiss to the top of Kili’s head. “We Dwarves wait for our Ones,” he explained.

Kili smiled at that and leaned further into Fili. It made him feel loads better knowing that Fili wouldn’t be comparing him to any of his past lovers.

“When we get back to Earth,” Fili whispered to him. “When we can take our time and not have to worry about being called to the bridge for an emergency, then we’ll take that step. Together. As long as we’re both ready.”

“Sounds perfect.”

 

#

 

Captain Oakenshield made a swift recovery under the caring hands of Doctors Peredhel and Undomiel. They stayed in orbit around Erebor for a week, with dozens of other ships joining them in case an evacuation became necessary. There weren’t nearly enough ships to get the entire population off the planet, so Kili was extremely relieved that the threatened volcanic activity seemed less and less likely with each day that went by.

The Dwarves would likely still have to abandon the planet, as the core would never be stable again, but they had time to plan an emigration. Kili estimated that it would be at least three standard years before the planet’s atmosphere was negatively affected. It was still a heavy blow to the Ereborian Dwarves, but they at least had time to prepare now.

Soon, the _Enterprise_ was heading back to Earth, the young crew only slightly traumatized by their unprecedented first mission. In the coming days, they were realize just how horrific the loss had been, when they realized how many of their classmates, their _friends_ , had been aboard the other three starships that had traveled to Erebor with them.

For now, they were too lost and exhausted for their losses to sink in.

As for Kili, the days following all of the action, though tiring, were some of the happiest of his life. He and Fili were rarely more than three feet apart during the day, and they spent the nights wrapped around each other. Even if all they did was exchange kisses and light caresses, it was more than Kili had ever dreamed of.

So when they got back to Earth and reality began settling in, Kili couldn’t help but worry.

The odds of them being assigned to the same starship wasn’t very high. There were five thousand starships in Starfleet. The odds of one of them being assigned to a particular starship was one in five thousand. For both of them to be on the same ship, the odds went up to one in twenty five _million_.

And even if the odds were better, Kili was still only nineteen. Starfleet wouldn’t post him on a starship until he was twenty. And since Fili, as a pilot, was definitely going to be posted on a ship as soon as he graduated, that meant a year apart.

Something in his face must have shown his thoughts because as soon as they were back in their room, Fili pulled him into his arms with a concerned frown. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re going to graduate and be stationed on a ship soon,” Kili admitted, hiding his face in Fili’s shoulder.

“Hey,” he said, leaning back and bringing a hand up to tilt Kili’s chin up. “They aren’t going to separate us,” Fili assured him.

“How do you know?” he asked, blinking back tears.

“Because Starfleet doesn’t separate Dwarven Ones,” the blond stated with a smile. “It’s not an official policy, but it’s pretty much understood.”

Kili shook his head. “But I’m not twenty yet,” he reminded. “They won’t put me on a ship.”

“Then they won’t put me on a ship,” Fili told him confidently. “Now come on. Let’s get some sleep.”

His fears weren’t completely abated, but he let Fili lead him to his bed and curl up around him.

“I promise you that we will always be together, Kee,” he whispered after turning the lights out. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Kili’s concerns were laid to rest two days later, when both he and Fili received their official commissions. He had expected Fili to get one, but he was surprised to get one himself.

“First helmsman, _U.S.S. Enterprise_ ,” Fili announced in a dumb-founded voice. He looked at Kili with shocked eyes. “ _First_ helmsman? That’s…”

“Amazing and deserved,” Kili finished with a grin. “You earned it.” His grin slipped from his face as he realized what this meant. “I’ll miss you.”

Fili’s face fell before it took on a thoughtful look. “Check your messages.”

Kili shook his head even as he pulled out his PADD. “There won’t be anything for me. I’m not due to be commissioned for another year.”

Which is why the official message from the Starfleet Admiralty was a shock.

Fili beamed triumphantly at him. “And?”

“Chief tactical officer,” he said in awe. “This has to be a mistake.”

“Now who doesn’t realize how amazing and deserving he is,” Fili teased, stepping closer and looping his arms around Kili’s waist. 

“I’m not twenty yet…”

“You helped save an entire planet of people,” the blond pointed out. “I think exceptions can be made.”

Kili grinned shyly as he leaned his forehead against Fili’s. “We’re going to be together.”

“Forever,” Fili declared with a smile of his own. “In this life and the next. So don’t get sick of me.”

He snorted. “As if I could,” he said before bringing their lips together in a kiss.

Fin.


End file.
